Reviews

You watch for the love, you stay for the family

I saw so many clips on YouTube that eventually I decided I had to watch the whole show, and I am so glad I did. First of all, so many people I love in this show: Zhang Jingyi, Johnny Huang, WANG ZIQI <3, Zhang Linghe, I mean...so even as side characters, they made a difference. The chemistry between all the characters was huge for me, because that is something I really look for when choosing shows I want to finish watching. The found family feels like everything in this and I stand by the fact that this is a family I would want to be part of. There was something about this show that felt relatable and human. I don't want to say this is my favorite show, but something was life-changing about this show. Maybe because I enjoyed it so much, even though nothing about it was terribly unique. We have other shows with similar tropes and storylines, but there was just something so real and comforting about this show that makes it such a heart-warming show. On the other hand, I love Zhang Jingyi and Wang Ziqi a lot, so I am biased. Yes...Jingyi and Johnny Huang have great chemistry, but you know who else has great chemistry, WANG ZIQI AND JOHNNY HUANG, but this is not the review I will talk about that in. All I can say is that, for having a supporting character role, Wang Ziqi steals your heart in this. Anyway, you should give it a chance.

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This is a REVENGE drama, NOT a romance

I've watched many Thai dramas involving revenge; they love to make them. However, I have never seen one where the revenge is the end-all, be-all. Usually, the one trying to get revenge has some doubts or struggles with their love for the person who is involved in the revenge. In this drama...no. Wayu/Raka is revenge, revenge, revenge all the way to the end. He gets asked questions like if he is rethinking everything because he loves Fahsai and he, with no hesitation, is like no. He cheats on her multiple times throughout their relationship (even on their wedding day) in the name of "revenge." When Fahsai confronts him about being Raka and the revenge, he does not even give her the decency to explain himself. He just looks at her and LEAVES.

Through all of this, he is flirting with Mesa, kissing her, everything (except going all the way). He even is emotionally and physically cheating on Fahsai with Mesa ON THEIR WEDDING DAY. This continues basically all the way to the end of the drama. I was under the impression it was to get revenge after what she did to him, but they end the drama on GREAT terms. So what was all that for? To get revenge on Samut? That makes no sense because he does not care about Mesa not even a bit.

The acting was good, the cinematography was good. I really kept watching to see if they could convince me Wayu loved her (they did not) and because I love Mint and she did great in this role.

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The Double but ROMANCE YES, Revenge Less

Don't get mad at me for comparing it to 'The Double', because in my eyes, it's a huge compliment. I just got familiar vibes from this one, and some scenes reminded me of 'The Double'. First of all, this is a solid story that makes sense, doesn't have major plot holes, and works cohesively, which is not always easy to achieve. However, I think everyone can agree that the chemistry between Li Yunrui and Meng Ziyi is fantastic. I feel like I haven't enjoyed the acting and chemistry between two actors that much in a while. Maybe it's the story, maybe it's the actors, but they really just did so well in making us root for their love story. I was so emotionally invested. If you liked Li Yunrui before, you're falling in love with him in this show. He was made for these kind of characters, and I would watch him play this kind of character, episode after episode. Meng Ziyi always plays a badass, and she's great at being an absolute queen. Nonetheless, there were times that her character annoyed me, which is a personal problem, so whatever. I don't love characters who always think they're right all the time, so that sometimes ruins things for me. But overall, I was emotionally invested in this couple in a way I hadn't been for a while.

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A wholesome story with a little darkness for fun

I decided to watch this because I like Wang Churan, and honestly, I'm glad I did. It gave me another Chang Huashen character to love, and introduced me to Zhang Wangyi, whom I enjoyed in this role. As the audience, you know more than all the characters do, and that is always fun and frustrating (in a good way). This is a sweet love story, with a splash of angst, to keep it interesting. Although there is darkness and political intrigue, it doesn't take away from what is a romantic comedy. I thoroughly enjoyed how all of the story played out and how well Wang Churan and Zhang Wangyi played their chemistry; it made you want to root for them. The side characters were also, of course, darling and added to the romantic humor that comes with a romcom. Additionally, as is typical of most of his characters, Chang Huashen gave you someone to both root for and hate, depending on the time and place of the story. There was always a bit of mystery that kept you from getting bored, and I truly appreciated how everything seemed to fit into the right number of episodes.

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So Average It Hurts

I really tried to like this – time travel is such a great and interesting trope if done right. Unfortunately, it was wasted in this story. Almost all of Ren's research (which she does having some sort of knowledge about the future) is done off the screen, and aside from the first episode, the concept of time travel is criminally ignored. There are many things I would have simply overlooked if I had not anticipated a proper story. First, the script: Lene is a boss of a company. Want to know something more? Sorry, that is all. There are four workers in the huge-ass building who sometimes go for meetings to throw random buzzwords like "shares" and "sales". They also, like Ren, hand Lene documents. What kind of documents? Just documents, what more do you want to know? The writing is so lazy, all company-related conversations felt like a big waste of time since they provided exactly nothing. Secondly, the editing. In one shot the person is, in the next one they magically disappear. Shoes are on one side of the bed, in the next shot they are on the other. The editing of the classic scene of falling on the bed was so comically unreal even by romance standards. And the amount of slow motion, do not even get me started on that. On the bright side, I think the acting was not bad. The chemistry, I could see it. I just wished they would convince me. The thing is, I was painfully conscious most of the time that I was watching a drama. Not a delightful story, not a breath-taking romance, just a drama with actors saying their lines and half-decent scenography.

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Pretty to Look At, Hard to Feel ??

After having this drama on my watchlist for years, I was genuinely excited to finally start Only for Love. Unfortunately, it ended up being one of those dramas that I finished more out of commitment than excitement.

🐌 A Drama That Takes Forever to Get Going

My biggest issue with this drama is its pacing.

It takes an incredibly long time to find its footing, and even when things finally start moving, the progress feels minimal. The rhythm improves slightly during the last 4–5 episodes, but by then, there are only a handful of episodes left.

This was one of the rare dramas where I gradually increased the playback speed:

➡️ Normal speed
➡️ 1.25x
➡️ 1.5x
➡️ The last ten episodes at 2x speed

And honestly? I never felt like I was missing much.

💔 A Romance That Never Fully Convinced Me

The biggest disappointment was the main romance.

The leads are attractive, the production is polished, and yet I never truly bought into their relationship. Even after 36 episodes, I’m not entirely sure why these two fell so deeply in love with each other.

The chemistry isn’t bad, but compared to many other romance dramas, it feels surprisingly weak. There are cute moments, kisses, and relationship milestones, but the emotional connection never felt as strong as the script wanted me to believe.

At one point, the couple even spends several episodes apart after the male lead discovers the heroine’s original motives for approaching him. Instead of adding emotional depth, it mostly felt like another delay in a story that was already moving too slowly.

📱 Please Stop Answering Every Phone Call

One thing that became increasingly frustrating was the number of interruptions.

Every important conversation seems destined to be interrupted by a phone call, a message, or an urgent work matter. It happens so often that it becomes predictable.

Even in real life, people don’t get interrupted this much… and more importantly, they don’t answer every single call immediately. 😅

After a while, it felt less like natural storytelling and more like a convenient way to postpone character development.

🎬 When the Reels Are Better Than the Drama

I usually don’t mind being spoiled by reels—in fact, it often motivates me to keep watching. But in this case, it felt like I had already experienced most of the emotional highlights, which made the rest of the drama feel like filler rather than build-up.

The viral clips promised a passionate and memorable romance.

The full drama rarely delivered on that promise.

💼 The Heroine Deserves Praise

One of the strongest aspects of the drama is definitely the female lead.

She’s a capable journalist, ambitious, intelligent, and genuinely good at her job. I appreciated that she had her own goals and career progression outside of the romance.

I also liked the time skips near the end ⏳. We get to see her professional growth over several months and then over a year, which helps make the story feel more complete.

🥰 Side Couples

The secondary couple never really worked for me. Their constant “we don’t want commitment but we’re jealous anyway” dynamic quickly became repetitive, and I found myself skipping some of their scenes.

Meanwhile, the tertiary couple was absolutely adorable and often more enjoyable to watch than the main romance. 💕

🎭 Dylan Wang After Love Between Fairy and Devil

I can’t help comparing this role to Dylan Wang’s performance in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

After such a memorable performance there, this character felt far less interesting. Part of that is probably the writing, but I never felt the same emotional intensity or charisma here.

🎯 Final Thoughts

The ending is happy 😊

The couples are together, there are hints of future marriages, and everyone seems to be moving forward in life. There’s nothing wrong with the conclusion itself.

The problem is that the journey to get there simply wasn’t engaging enough.

By the end, I wasn’t watching because I was desperate to know what happened next. I was watching because I had already invested enough time that stopping felt pointless.

⭐ Verdict: I think there are far better dramas competing for your time.

Would I recommend it? ❌ No.

Did I regret finishing it? 🤷‍♀️ Not really.

Would I watch it again? 🚫 Absolutely not.

🏷️ Tags: #SlowBurnWithoutTheBurn #CEOromance #CareerWoman #WeakChemistry #TooManyPhoneCall

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Victoria is my Queen, but there's just that.

I will pretty much watch any show that my queen, Victoria Song, is in. I will continue watching the show, solely because she is in it, but that doesn't mean I will enjoy it. My poor Victoria, why do they give you these shows all the time? All of her shows have her as this headstrong queen who is loyal and will do anything for her loved ones, but that's kind of it. She's such a good actress, but her storylines are quite boring. This show was so predictable and full of tropes that were not needed. Honestly, it could have ended halfway through and would have been fine. The only thing that saved the second half was the side couples and storylines. The 0.5 I gave extra is for introducing me to Chen Heyi, who is now a favorite of mine because he is so good. He was really good in this too, and now I love him, so that's what the 0.5 is for.

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Lovely rom-com

True Beauty
Best episode: No favorite - rated most of them with 9 stars /16
Watched it: 16/5 - 17/6 (2026)
Why I liked it: True Beauty is a very funny and good drama. It is perfect for binge-watching with its enjoyable plot and plenty of moments bringing butterflies to viewers all around the world.

The male lead Lee Soo Ho, seemed like a jerk in my eyes from the beginning, but later on he got better and then I was on his team, even though I feel bad for Han Seo Jun.

It was really nice to see a drama pretty focused on relationships in families, Lim Ju Kyeong’s family seemed so nice and funny to be around.

The OST was also really good, a lot of songs and nice instrumentals too. It was really lovely to witness Lee Hee Kyung (what a passionate lover) and Han Jun Ho fall in love and marry each other. Shou-out to Lim Ju Yeong, he seemed to be so nice and caring. Hope he and Han Go Un continue seeing each other.

Could have been better: It was sad to see how Kang Su Jin changed because of the toxic environment she grew up in, but it was really nice seeing her apologize and become friends with Lim Ju Kyeong and the others again. Unrelated but she looked so good in this series but especially in the last episode.

Otherwise I don’t really have that much negative to say, maybe sometimes there was a bit too much drama but that’s also partly what made the show interesting.

Favorite Character: Lim Ju Yeong

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My 1st non rom com drama. Surprisingly loved it

The drama was an absolute stress buster with nothing that'd stress you out. It's something you can watch to relax during a stressful day. The story was pretty good, kinda like a game where you're waiting for the next level to see what new elements have been added. From what I see I am guessing this will have a sequel in future.

I really liked Kang Song Jae.. but Yun Dong Hyeon just stole my heart since ep 1. Eventhough he looked big and scary. He's always been the protector both in case of Song Jae and Gwan Cheol (the bratty one). I loved his character a lot. The blend of softness with roughness was done really good. I am really curious how his life wa s after the military? Was his gf cheating on him? (Cz i sus that)? Will he meet this gang again? What his job would be? Etc.

Coming to the reason I dropped the rating was cz I felt some pieces were missing. Like the office mess chef's star. We never got to see that. Also the reason behind this whole game thing. Why did it start in the 1st place. Sometimes their reactions to the food was not something I was much interested in although it was fun the 1st few times later i skipped that part😂😂. The summary said this was about the secret behind the father's death..but there was nothing in the series that showed this so it's an 8.5 for me. It's a good watch

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18 episodes later, still asking why ???

The drama looked promising at first. I picked it purely for the tags since I'm not particularly attached to the cast.

Big mistake.

By the time I reached episode 9-10, it became painfully obvious that the plot is not progressing at all and nothing meaningful is happening . Unfortunately, it couldn't deliver even 20% of what it promised.

Let's talk about the comedy first.

What comedy???

Every pun. Every punchline. Every supposedly funny scene. All of it felt painfully forced.The natural humour, the kind that actually catches you off guard, is completely absent.

The leads didn't help either. Their cutesy antics are tolerable at first, then quickly become a sugar overdose. By the tenth episode, Everything became so overly cute that it started feeling nauseating and cringe.
Unfortunately, this affected their chemistry too. Because beneath all the flirting and cute moments, I couldn't feel any real connection between them.

The biggest reason?👇

Their goals are never in sync.

The FL spends most of the drama hiding her martial arts abilities behind a fragile-girl facade. Meanwhile, the ML spends most of *his* time manipulating situations for his own plans......Even when she needs help, he acts less like a partner and more like a chess player ... And she becomes another piece on the board.

So where exactly is the couple dynamic?

where is the romance?

Where is the trust?...the teamwork???

Because all I saw was flirting.

Lots of flirting.... Cheap thrills, teasing, accidental closeness, and those *"oops, we fell into each other's arms for the seventeenth time"* moments. But The romance itself?...Missing.


In a nutshell ~~

This was by far the most ridiculous romance plot I have ever seen. I spent 45 mins per episode and watched 18 episodes so far yet I am not sure why, when and how the leads started falling for each other.

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leads' chemistry can't turn a coworker-abuse drama into a slapstick comedy

ML and FL relationship is very sweet. But the plot is mostly about how FL's coworkers/fellow students mercilessly bully her and threaten to/try to kill her and her unborn baby, and you really can't morph that into a slapstick comedy, no matter how sweet the leads are. Also, It's never explained how such a wonderful ML can raise such a HORRIBLE daughter who has such an evil character.

Also if you know a whole squad of people is after you trying to hurt you, maybe don't have the ML answer a call and say, "Let me take this call -- you go ahead and 1) go shopping, 2) go to your evil parent's house, 3) go to work, 4) go get a glass of champagne at the event." Maybe you both could make a plan together that doesn't result in her being a sitting duck.

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A strong first act undone by how it handles what comes after

The trailer sold this as forbidden love with an erotic edge, and underneath that, a toxic relationship. I went in with limited expectations and was, at least initially, pleasantly surprised. The series opens by taking the lived reality of queer people seriously — one family choosing silence and erasure, the other sending their son to America and forcing marriage, with a father who beats him near-daily for refusing and for trying to reach the person he loves. Letters intercepted, messages deleted by a sibling, a mutual misunderstanding built entirely on absence rather than betrayal. That's a genuinely strong foundation, and the chemistry between the leads felt real enough to carry it.

Honestly, the series could have ended once they found their way back to each other and resolved the misunderstanding. I think I even took a long break from watching around that point, which says something. What follows undoes most of the goodwill the opening earned.

The answer the show reaches for to explain violence and toxicity within the relationship is, once again, a psychiatric disorder — and I find that explanation exhausting at this point, because it does two things at once: it stereotypes the illness and it quietly absolves the person committing harm. A therapist telling the victim he's the only one who can get his abuser to accept help is something I had to sit with for a moment, because it's about as unprofessional a line as I've heard in this genre.

My issue isn't that the series includes mental illness or therapy. It's how simplistically it treats both. By the end, bipolar disorder feels less like a complex, lifelong condition and more like a plot device that can be resolved in time for a happy ending. Mental illness doesn't simply disappear after a short period of treatment. For many people, managing it is an ongoing process involving therapy, medication, setbacks, triggers, and periods of stability and crisis. Double Helix reduces that complexity to a convenient narrative solution, which I found both unrealistic and insensitive.

I want to be fair: I can get on board with toxic dynamics in fiction. That's not where my objection lives. My objection is with content that minimises, vaguely names, or stigmatises real harm while asking me to read it as romance. Non-consensual sex, drugging, captivity, repeated assault, all eventually folded into a redemption arc that treats mental illness as both cause and cure — that crosses a line for me regardless of how good the chemistry is elsewhere.

The series does have real strengths. The performances are strong, the early homophobia plot is handled with more honesty than I expected, and the second couple — the younger brother and his partner — genuinely outshines the central pairing by the end, precisely because their relationship is healthy in all the ways the main one isn't. But a good second couple and a strong first act can't fully offset what the main storyline becomes. Hard to recommend without significant caveats.

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I will never recover—neither will you

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Revenged Love and I have finally decided to collect the pieces of myself it left broken and give the review it has long since deserved. Yes I have denied that Revenged Love has ended for a year and yes it is just that good. I don’t understand why you aren’t racing toward Youtube right now to watch it. I don’t understand why I am not racing to watch it right now again because in the year I have postponed writing a review, I have rewatched Revenged Love 13 times. I don’t want to admit to myself that it’s over, but I guess it’s now or never, the one year anniversary seems the perfect time

It is the only show I will ever rate a 10/10, it has forever changed me.

It brought me back into BL, back into asian dramas in general, it brought me back to k,c,and t-pop. It has made me so many new friends and, in no way exaggerating, has changed by life.

This is less of a review, more of a short reconciliation with my own emotions, and a plea for you to WATCH THIS DRAMA

Even if you think you don’t like BL, or you can’t watch shows in a language you don’t speak because you find subtitles annoying, Revenged Love will change everything

A hilarious plot line as two couples find themselves and love. All plot twists were exactly perfect and kept the drama exciting, deepening our interest and love for the show and all of its characters (except for some, Yue know who you are)

The chemistry is top-tier, watch the BTS after (even if just for the director). The ending was perfectly sweet, exactly what both parties deserved, each other. The characters were so well done, acted perfectly. For those of you who say Chi Cheng is a red flag, grow up, characters need to have flaws for us to empathize with them, his arc is exactly what makes him perfect and there are a lot worse out there for you to be worrying about a man in a genre that in no way makes perfect male leads.

THE MUSIC
Do yourself a favor and first, watch the show, second, never ever skip the intro. I have this song on my playlist and I cry everytime it comes on, in a good way.
It is sung by Ziyu, who plays WeiWei in the drama and the song deserves your full attention every time.



I would be more offended with you not watching this drama than cutting off both my arms.

Thanks for reading! Watch! Please!

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Mulan Type Shit

If you love Mulan, you'll definitely enjoy this one. I was surprised when I dived deep into this, because the title was very intriguing.

The story is very epic and badass. I hope you don't mind the over the top action scenes, as i was taken aback at first, because I thought it would be a well-grounded action. Nevertheless, it was good. The scale of the story is very big, there's a lot to explore, even after i finished it i feel like there was a lot to cover still. Like barely scratching the surface, because they've dropped a lot of info, but those are mostly some side plots that I'm curious about. e.g., FL's 8 generals, because we are only introduced to one, and the others were never explored/introduced. I'm not sure how long the source for this is, but you can tell they're definitely trying to cram it all in this adaptation, because there are some parts of the story where it's really fast paced, but then some parts where it slows, but overall story-wise, I fairly enjoyed what i saw.

As for the characters, it's refreshing to see Zhou Ye (He Yan) take on this kind of role. I'm pretty sure a lot of other actresses could've taken on the role and done better, but for me, she still nailed it. I kept saying "Mulan type shit" whenever she's in an action scene, because it is!!!

I can't really say i was totally invested in the romance because i was paying attention more to the Female General aspect of the story, like i'm very much enjoying it. Well, i guess for the romance it was cute, but it felt frustrating in the later parts. In contrast, the 2nd couple was funny at first, but as the story unfolded, they became cuter. 

The king here i like, i was pleasantly surprised to see a king that's finally making sense, not too cruel, not blind, and also very generous because that helped establish a fairly enjoyable politics for me, but later near the end, for some reason, he started getting dumber like a quick 180.

Last thing i wanna say is that why did they have to ruin Chu Zhao?! From character to story, he was packaged beautifully, but they had to do him dirty like that. When he was introduced, I didn't pay much attention to him, but the way he was developed, the journey to get him to such heights made me appreciate his character so much. I hate it when cdramas ruin 2nd leads just to drag the show for a few more episodes.

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